For the past 75 years, the San Antonio Lighthouse for the Blind (SALB), a non-profit organization, has become San Antonio’s icon for training and educating both the blind and severally visually impaired, in addition to being a leader in manufacturing for the military and government agencies. Through its rehabilitation programs as well as employment opportunities in its manufacturing assembly plant and retail military stores, the San Antonio Lighthouse touches lives by creating opportunities for individuals with severe vision impairment to lead independent, productive and quality lives. The SALB has a wide range of manufacturing capabilities including textiles, a line of office supplies, as well as absorbent spill kits and related products.
As Vice President of Operation and Employment Programs, Joe Langley is responsible for ensuring that the operation runs efficiently while maintaining on-time deliveries to their customers. He first became aware of TMAC and lean principles in the Fall of 2004 through an open enrollment course being taught by TMAC at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
In early 2005, San Antonio Lighthouse was awarded a large contract to produce advanced combat pants for the US Army. As production started to gear up, the manufacturing operation could not keep up with the increasing demand while still achieving the company’s financial goals. By the Fall of 2005, customer demand reached over 310 units per day, but the operation could only produce 145 units per day.
Recognizing that lean principles would help improve productivity, Langley contacted TMAC to facilitate the improvement. TMAC, being a local resource, was able to quickly respond yet be flexible in the scheduling of activities so as to not interfere with production.
TMAC performed a quick but thorough assessment of the product flow through the production line. The assessment indicated that the bundle system being used created too much work-in-process between production operators, which prevented management from identifying bottlenecks in the system. In addition, TMAC assessed each operation on the production line to identify and eliminate waste that could not be easily seen with the high levels of inventory between each operator.
TMAC’s effort spanned approximately four weeks, and by the last week, the operation increased production to over 310 units per day without changing any headcount or adding overtime. This resulted in an increase in overall efficiency of 114%. By the end of the program, the manufacturing team was able to ship over 400 units per day with the same number of employees.
According to Langley, “The net result of having a relationship with TMAC was two fold. In the more generic sense, we were able to implement the principles of lean and single piece flow throughout the organization. With regard to the specific project of the advanced combat pants, we were able to increase the initial productivity and catch up on all of the requirements that we were behind on at that point.”
Furthermore, Langley states that implementing lean and single piece flow has been very beneficial from a costing standpoint because it allows San Antonio Lighthouse for the Blind to run more aggressively with either the same or less people in the different departments. By reallocating employees to other departments or projects, San Antonio Lighthouse has been able to expand the business.
“We were able to implement the principles of lean and single piece flow throughout the organization.”
Joe Langley
Vice President of Operations
San Antonio Lighthouse for the Blind